


Nana Chase

by Em_is_here



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Annabeth's name has some backstory, F/M, Grandparents, I am not from virginia, It's Annabeth's grandparents, all as a well meaning insult, because these people are from virginia, but i did have some help, the word "Yankee" is used three times, virginians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25242583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_is_here/pseuds/Em_is_here
Summary: Percy and Annabeth go to visit her grandparents
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	Nana Chase

They had decided to make it a road trip. Packed their belongings into the rarely used car and drove the nine hours from the Jackson-Blofis apartment in New York to Annabeth’s grandma’s house in southwestern Virginia. Abingdon the town was called. 

Apparently after Annabeth’s father had returned from Yale, he had moved up to the north of Virginia, between Washington and the majority of the battles he studied. So Annabeth had grown up there with frequent five hour trips to see her grandmother. Percy’s grandparents had died in that plane crash long before he was born so his only point of reference was Frank’s grandmother. He honestly wasn’t sure, but she didn’t seem very typical of a grandparent. Also, Kronos didn’t count.

The town seemed like a nice place, but you could definitely tell that it was in the south. It gave off a very old school vibe but then again he was used to New York so what did he know.

Annabeth pulled up outside a nice looking and fairly sizable house then turned to Percy.

“I haven’t seen my grandparents for a few years. They are fairly old south people and they will not like that you’re a New Yorker. You will be called a Yankee. If the civil war comes up, change the topic as quickly as possible. Try your hardest not to talk to them about politics. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” He squeezed her hand and they opened the car doors together. They had arrived in Abingdon last night and had checked into a small bed and breakfast before dropping into bed and immediately falling asleep. They had woken up this morning and had put on their nicest clothes and were going to pretend that they hadn’t booked a hotel in the same town her grandparents lived so they could escape if they really needed to. 

Annabeth rang the doorbell, holding his hand again. An elderly woman came to the door. Not really old but her hair was white and that was enough in Percy’s head. 

“Anna, Sugar! You’ve arrived! Come in, come in.” Percy was surprised that Annabeth hadn’t corrected the woman she assumed was her grandmother. Nobody was allowed to call her anything but Annabeth. Instead she just stepped inside the door and hugged her grandmother. 

“Grandmother, this is Percy, my boyfriend.” She said, gesturing to him.

Percy stuck out his hand and said “It’s nice to finally meet you, Ma’am.” The ma’am was a last minute addition and the word felt foreign in his mouth. 

“The boy has manners for a Yankee, I’ll give him that. Call me Nana Chase my boy. Everyone else does.” She turned her attention back to Annabeth. “Oh you’ve grown so much, sugar! When was the last time you visited?”

“Four years ago, grandmother when I was 14?”

“Oh yes, I remember now darling. You mentioned Percy back then and I had a feeling about you two. Well come on in. Hang your coats on the peg and come on through to the living room. Y'all want anything to drink? Water? Lemonade?”

“Water would be lovely, Nana Chase.” Percy replied, not sure what to do with himself.

“Water please Grandmother.”

“Your grandfather will be down in just a second. Y'all sit yourselves down now.” She bustled her way through a different door to the one they had entered through and Annabeth sat down on the couch, sighing and pulling down the already knee length sundress she wore as she went. 

“She seems nice?” Percy said as he sat down next to her. 

“She is. She’s just exhausting to be around for very long.” Percy only had time to pat her hand sympathetically before her grandmother returned bringing a pitcher full of water and four glasses. 

“So, Percy, sugar. Tell me about yourself.” She handed them both a glass of water.

“What is it you want to know, Nana Chase? I’m going to New York University in the fall, I’m the same age as Annabeth, a month younger. I’ve lived in New York all my life…” He trailed off, fiddling with the hem of his button down. Nana Chase just smiled and moved on.

“Well. I can’t hold being born a Yankee against you. Annabeth here, she chose it over here but nevermind. How did you two end up meeting? I know it was longer than four years ago but I’m not sure other than that.”

“Percy came to the summer camp I was at when we were 12. That was a good summer. We’ve been going to the same summer camp ever since and last year of high school we went to Goode. New York again.”

The conversation continued in the same vein. Percy briefly explained the… complicated nature of his family in the generic way he did to most mortals. His mother and father had met when she was 19, his father had had an accident at sea before he was born then his mother had married an abusive man who had left her when Percy was twelve before meeting Paul. 

What blew him out of the water is the question that came after that.

“Oh so your father isn’t like Annabeth’s mother, then, sweetheart?” He and Annabeth shared a look.

“What do you mean by that grandmother? Mom left me and dad for her work, you know that.” Annabeth was careful about her wording. Technically, that was true. It just left out some other, more important truths. Nana Chase gave her granddaughter a sharp look, pursing her lips.

“Don’t lie to me Anna Elizabeth Chase. Your mother is Athena.”

Their jaws dropped. Several things ran through Percy’s mind in quick succession.   
Nana Chase knew about the gods  
Nana Chase knew Annabeth was a child of Athena  
Annabeth’s name was Anna Elizabeth Chase?

“How did you-”, “Your name is-” They spoke simultaneously. Nana Chase laughed and then spoke up again.

“Annabeth, sweetheart. After I pulled the truth from your father about where y'all were on your 8th birthday when your grandfather and I came to see you on a surprise trip I started looking for you. Posted advertisements in every major paper across the east coast. One day I received a visit from a man in a wheelchair named Chiron. He asked to come in, said he had information about your whereabouts. I invited him in and we had a lovely conversation where he explained the entire situation. The truth of the universe and of your parentage.”

Annabeth stared at her grandmother, mouth open in shock. 

“Your father didn’t get his intelligence and creativity from nowhere, Anna. Even when you were very young your mind made leaps no child should be able to make. When you were 5 or 6 we took you to the Saltville battleground and your father explained to you what had happened there. The massacre and the reason for the battle. You asked about the tactics each side had used and followed. At the end of it you said something along the lines of ‘they should have infiltrated the post under cover of night and then opened the gates’. You were a child who could barely write her own name and you were discussing tactics with your father.”

From the look on her face, Annabeth had suddenly remembered something. “Last time I came. You mentioned the streak of grey in my hair. You said ‘Life been getting to you, Anna?’ I made my usual reply of a dye job gone wrong but I liked it so I was going to keep it. And then you said, ‘well as long as you don’t let the world get to you and add another…’ You knew it was from something I had done over the summer, didn’t you.”

“I knew you had held up the sky, yes. Your father explained what had gone on that particular summer. And I saw that news broadcast when y'all were 12 and over in Los Angeles. And I bet that series of storms two years ago was something to do with that world. Where did that other boy who was with y’all end up, anyway?”

Ok. So the Chases were supernaturally intelligent even without the added bonus Annabeth had. 

“Grover ended up moving to Canada, Grandma.” Annabeth answered the last questions automatically, still reeling from her realisation.

“Your beau looks like he has a question to ask you, sugar.”

“Yeah, actually. I do.” He angles his body towards his girlfriend. “She called you Anna Elizabeth?”

“That’s my name. Anna Elizabeth Chase.”

“So the name you’ve been giving everyone for years?”

“It is an old south tradition for people to go by their first name and middle name.” Nana Chase piped up. “Not very common in Virginia but I like it. I called her Anna Elizabeth whenever I referenced her so everybody who knew her in this town called her Anna Elizabeth.”

“My father followed my grandmother because it was easier than trying to change my mind once I had decided that my full name was Anna Elizabeth. So I started introducing myself as Anna ‘beth to other kids up in Stafford, because I found the ‘Eliza’ bit difficult to say and they called me Annabeth. By the time I was seven I introduced myself as Annabeth all the time.” Annabeth finished the story, scowling at the short sleeves of the dress restricting her arm movement a little.

“So you got to camp, introduced yourself as Annabeth and it’s been a thing ever since. And you’ve never thought to bring it up?”

“Did it ever matter?” He supposed it didn’t. Although if he’d ever had to reference her name to someone they wouldn’t have been able to find her on any official record. 

“Why do you hate being called Anna then. If it’s your real name.”

“Don’t like it.” She shrugged and turned back to her grandmother. “Does grandpa know about mom?”

“When he chooses to.” The man in question spoke as he walked in. Percy stood up almost on instinct. He looked almost identical to his son, just older. 

“I’ll take that as a yes then, grandpa?” Annabeth walked over to him to give him a hug. “This is Percy, I told you about him over the phone?”

“Ah yes. The yankee. It’s good to finally meet you, son. Annabeth here told us about you on her last two visits.” He shook Percy’s hand, “Neither of us were exactly surprised when she mentioned you were both coming down. Shall we eat?” The man had already moved on, walking into the kitchen. Percy moved over to Annabeth.

“Your grandad is waay more chill than you are Anna Elizabeth.” He whispered into her ear. She shot him a look that he could clearly interpret as ‘tell anyone and your guts will be used as my christmas decorations. Test me, I dare you’. By the gods he loved his girlfriend. 

They followed her grandparents into the dining room, but Nana Chase called out, “Sugars? Will y’all bring the pitcher in with you?” Annabeth ran back to get it while he waited in the door. When she placed it down on the table, Percy smirked at her, causing her to jerk her hand. Right into the still unstable pitcher. He caught the water, directing it back into the jug and keeping it there until Annabeth got the pitcher upright. 

Crisis averted, he grinned at Annabeth only to see her face go white. Then he remembered that there were other people in the room.

“So that answers that question, huh sugar. Poseidon?” Percy just nodded and sat in the seat Nana Chase pointed out for him; Annabeth following his lead, sitting next to him. “Athena and Poseidon. That should be an interesting mixture in the kids y’all will have.” Annabeth choked.

“Kids?” Percy managed.

It was Annabeth’s grandad who replied. “Y’all have been through a lot together. Y’all have acted more in sync and in love than couples ‘round here with the best of marriages. You’ll be hearing the sound of tiny footsteps soon enough.”

“Sir, you probably aren’t wrong but still…”

“Why don’t y’all tell us the true stories of your adventures, sweethearts. Lunch’ll be along in a few minutes.” Nana Chase got up from the table and left the room. Percy glanced over at Annabeth only to find her looking back at him. She just smiled and took his hands, gesturing for him to start.

“Well you see it all started when I got expelled.”

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic was originally inspired by the tumblr post here: https://the-not-very-graceful-jasongrace.tumblr.com/post/189466225105/ofswordsandpens-ofswordsandpens
> 
> I sent it to my good friend (@Nerdee-GK on Tumblr again) and she found the concept funny but ultimately said it wasn't really a thing Virginians did. She was also very helpful to make Annabeth's grandparents less like British old people pretending to be from Virginia... So thanks for that.


End file.
